The Future of Loampit Vale North

Another of the most important aspects of Lewisham Council's long-term plans for Lewisham town centre is the creation of a new mixed development on a large chunk of land called Loampit Vale North, including the Thurston Road industrial estate, the strip of evangelical churches along Brookmill Road and the area currently occupied by the likes of Matalan. The plan envisages a counterpart to the Loampit Vale scheme currently shooting up.

Here's what the draft Area Action Plan says about the Thurston plan - click for details of the rest:

The Thurston Industrial Estate is allocated for mixed use town centre development. The Council will encourage development of this prominent and important site. Proposals should incorporate the following principles:

- Create an active building frontage to Loampit Vale and Jerrard Street of a scale appropriate to this town centre location. New development should prepare the visitor for the scale of the development they will encounter in the Lewisham Gateway to the west;
- Ground and possibly first floor uses should ideally be retail, business and community spaces with flatted accommodation above, taking account of the southerly aspect available and the amenity provided by the new publicly accessible open space being created to the south of Loampit Vale;
- The use and design of any new building needs to take account of the impact of shadows cast from buildings on the south side of Loampit Vale on this site and the microclimatic impact of any proposals on Thurston Road;
- Support the improvement of the public realm adjoining the railway line and facing the Thurston Road Industrial Estate, in order to enhance amenity for residents on surrounding development sites;
- Enhancement of public realm on Thurston Road;
- Creation of generous tree lined pavements with a coordinated approach to public realm material treatment (width of 6-8m);
- Jerrard Street and Thurston Road will take on more importance as new low car-parking schemes encourage walking and cycling and the quality and width of the footways require improvement;
- The site is situated within Flood Zone 3a High Probability. Developers will be expected to work closely with the Environment Agency to ensure that appropriate flood mitigation measures are incorporated.